Smart Strategies to Slash Your AWS API Gateway Bill
Looking to slash your AWS cloud bill? Let's talk about
AWS API Gateway pricing and cost
optimization strategies, those sneaky expenses that can explode faster than a
backend during Black Friday.
AWS API Gateway is the typical pick for serverless and microservices
architectures, but its pay-as-you-go model can cut through profit margins when
left unchecked. Smart pricing management means finding that sweet spot where
functionality meets affordability.
In the following sections, we'll explore proven strategies to optimize your API
Gateway costs while maintaining performance, from choosing the right API type to
implementing effective caching and minimizing data transfer expenses.
The Buffet You Pay For By The Shrimp: Understanding AWS API Gateway Pricing
AWS API Gateway uses a pay-for-what-you-use model with no minimum fees or
upfront commitments. The cost structure varies based on several factors,
including API type, request volume, data transfer, and additional features.
API calls are the main cost driver, priced per million requests
Prices differ by AWS region, with some regions costing significantly more
HTTP APIs are the budget-friendly option with straightforward pricing
REST APIs include more features but come with a premium price tag
WebSocket APIs enable real-time communication with different pricing based on
messages and connection time
Free Tier Offerings
AWS provides new users with a generous runway:
1 million HTTP API calls per month
1 million REST API calls per month
1 million messages and 750,000 connection minutes for WebSocket APIs
This free tier runs for 12 months after your first signup, giving you ample time
to test traffic patterns and estimate future costs before committing to paid
usage.
Pay As You Go... And Go... And Go: AWS API Gateway’s On-Demand Pricing
AWS API Gateway's on-demand pricing is crucial for preventing heart-palpitating
AWS bills. The consumption model means you only pay for actual usage, with no
upfront commitments.
Understanding Your Bill Components
API Calls: The biggest expense, calculated per million requests
HTTP APIs: ~$1.00 per million requests
REST APIs: ~$3.50 per million requests
WebSocket APIs: $1.00 per million messages plus connection charges
Data Transfer: Costs for outbound data and backend integration
Matches EC2 data transfer rates
Adds up quickly with bloated API responses
Caching: Additional charges based on chosen cache memory size
Larger cache sizes mean higher hourly rates
Those per-request costs might seem minuscule, but they multiply rapidly at
scale. An app with 5,000 page loads per minute generates 216 million requests
monthly. That's $216 for HTTP APIs, and over $750 for REST APIs. This doesn't
include the cost of your auth provider (ex. Cognito) or the Lambda Authorizer
you have to invoke to get API authorization up and running!
Preventative Measures
To keep costs from devouring your budget:
Choose the right API type based on necessary features
Implement strategic caching to reduce backend calls
Optimize data transfer with compression
Control API consumption with throttling and usage plans
Pick Your Tool Wisely: API Type Cost Comparison
Understanding cost differences between API types can help you select the right
tool for your specific needs and avoid overpaying for features you don't need.
HTTP APIs: The Budget Champion
Cost: ~$1.00 per million API calls
Ideal for: Simple proxy setups and straightforward RESTful APIs
Advantage: Clean, simple pricing that makes budgeting easier
REST APIs: Premium Features, Premium Price
Cost: ~$3.50 per million API calls (3.5x more expensive)
Extra costs: Caching (hourly charges) and data transfer fees
Ideal for: Complex APIs requiring validation, transformation, and detailed
access control
WebSocket APIs: Real-Time Connection Pricing
Cost: $1.00 per million WebSocket messages
Extra cost: $0.25 per million connection minutes
Ideal for: Real-time applications like chat services or live dashboards
Putting It In Perspective
For 10 million API calls monthly:
HTTP API: $10.00
REST API: $35.00
WebSocket API: $10.00 (messages only, not including connection minutes)
Additionally, evaluating whether to use
GraphQL vs REST
can influence both cost and development efficiency.
Money-Saving Moves: API Gateway Cost Optimization Strategies
Smart API Gateway cost optimization enables strategic resource management. Here
are battle-tested approaches to trim your bill while maintaining solid
performance.
Choose Wisely: API Type Selection
Selecting the appropriate API type might be your biggest cost-saving
opportunity:
HTTP APIs cost roughly $1.00 per million requests
REST APIs cost about $3.50 per million requests
Switching a medium-traffic REST API to HTTP API could reduce costs by up to
71%
Evaluate your requirements carefully. Only pay for features you actually need.
These cost optimization strategies can achieve significant savings.
Shrink It Down: Data Transfer Optimization
Compress responses to reduce data transfer charges
Improves response times and increases API performance
Lowers overall costs through cached responses
Balance caching costs against potential savings, ensuring cache expenses are
less than what you'd spend on backend calls.
Set Limits: Request Throttling and Usage Plans
Set throttling limits to prevent accidental overuse
Create usage plans and API keys to manage access patterns
Protect your backend from overwhelming traffic
These measures safeguard your infrastructure from unexpected traffic spikes.
Private Highways: Cost Benefits of VPC-Only APIs
Private APIs within Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) provide a stealth
cost-cutting strategy by keeping traffic off the public internet while enhancing
security.
Cost Benefits of Internal Traffic
By keeping APIs within your VPC:
Dramatically reduce data transfer costs compared to public internet traffic
Enhance security by limiting API exposure
Improve network performance for internal communications
Implementation Approach
Creating a private API Gateway is straightforward:
Create a VPC endpoint for API Gateway in your VPC
Configure your API as private during creation
Create resource policies to control access
Cost Considerations
VPC endpoint charges apply (typically less than public data transfer)
Potential savings on NAT gateway costs for outbound traffic
For most internal APIs, endpoint charges are offset by data transfer savings
Best-Fit Scenarios
Private APIs deliver the biggest cost benefits for:
Microservices communication within a single VPC
B2B integrations with trusted partners
Internal tools and admin interfaces
A financial services company that moved internal APIs from public to private
gateways experienced 40% lower data transfer costs along with improved security
and faster communication.
Stop the Data Bleeding: Minimizing Transfer Costs
Cutting data transfer costs reveals hidden savings in your API Gateway bill.
Here's how to prevent these expenses from draining your budget:
Compression Is Non-Negotiable
Utilize gzip compression to significantly reduce data transfer sizes. This
action not only lowers costs but also concurrently enhances API performance.
Implementing even a modest 20% compression on substantial documents can lead to
considerable savings as usage scales.
Ruthless Response Optimization
Ensure API responses include only the absolutely necessary data. Eliminate any
redundant information from the payloads. Your frontend applications do not
require entire database records; provide only the specific fields needed for
rendering.
Edge Caching with CloudFront
CloudFront caches API responses at edge locations. This reduces the number of
requests that reach the API Gateway. Furthermore, it minimizes the amount of
data transferred from origin servers.
Smart Request Batching
Batch requests when logical to do so. This action significantly reduces the
total number of API calls. Consequently, processing one batched request is more
cost-effective than handling numerous individual requests.
An API uploading 4.5MB documents at 30 calls per minute creates over 11 million
billable calls monthly. With smart compression and response optimization, you
could reduce this by 20-30% without functional changes.
Do You Even Need This? Alternative AWS Services
Sometimes the best way to cut API Gateway costs is questioning whether you need
AWS API Gateway at all. Here are some more affordable alternatives.
Simplified Pricing Model: Predictable pricing that often works out cheaper
for high-volume APIs
Built-in Rate Limiting: Advanced rate limiting without additional charges
Efficient Caching: Edge caching capabilities that reduce backend calls
Code-first API Management: Define APIs with TypeScript, making management
accessible to developers seeking
a better AWS API Gateway
GitHub Integration: Store API configurations in Git for version control
and CI/CD workflows
Rapid Iteration: Make changes and deploy in seconds (using git) instead of
minutes
Built-in Mocking: Create mock APIs without incurring backend costs during
development
Integrated Developer Portal: Automatically generate beautiful API
documentation from your API gateway that auto-updates as your API changes, and
integrates gateway-level details like authentication and rate limiting into
your OpenAPI specification.
Call Efficiency: Getting More For Less
Reducing unnecessary API calls is like finding free money in your AWS bill. Here
are battle-tested strategies to slash call counts without sacrificing
functionality:
Local Storage Solutions
Storing frequently accessed data on the client side is a strategy to enhance
application speed while simultaneously decreasing the number of API calls. By
caching data locally and refreshing it only when necessary, applications can
deliver a faster user experience and reduce reliance on frequent server
requests.
Strategic Backend Caching
API Gateway's integrated caching mechanism stores responses originating from
backend services. This process alleviates backend load and contributes to
quicker response delivery. It proves especially beneficial for APIs
characterized by frequent read operations and recurring data requests.
Smart Endpoint Design
Want to make our API calls super efficient and save money? Try batching up
multiple items into one request. Knowing the API inside and out is key to
getting things running smoothly. Another trick is to build endpoints that pull
together data from different spots, so we don't have to make a ton of separate
calls. And hey, we might even look into using
GraphQL instead of REST,
that way folks can ask for just the info they actually need.
Moreover, you can leverage tools like PostgREST to create efficient APIs. Even
if you're using a MySQL database, it's possible to set up a
PostgREST API for MySQL, improving
call efficiency.
Caching Configuration
Enabling caching in API Gateway is simple:
Select your API in the AWS Management Console
Choose the stage you want to cache
Enable caching and configure size and TTL
Always compare caching costs against potential API call savings to ensure it
makes financial sense.
Monitoring Magic: Tools For Cost Control
Remember that cost optimization requires ongoing attention—regularly review
reports, update alarms as traffic patterns change, and adjust budgets to reflect
evolving API usage.
AWS provides powerful tools for tracking and managing API Gateway spending.
AWS Cost Explorer
AWS Cost Explorer
breaks down spending by service, usage type, and custom tags. It allows you to
analyze usage by account, region, and type, and implement cost allocation tags
for precision tracking. Utilizing forecasting helps predict future expenses, and
grouping costs by different dimensions aids in identifying patterns.
AWS CloudWatch
AWS CloudWatch
offers operational metrics that connect directly to cost data. You can configure
alarms to trigger based on predefined usage or cost thresholds. The platform
also allows you to build custom dashboards that combine both operational and
cost-related metrics for a comprehensive view.
AWS Budgets
AWS Budgets
helps you stay ahead of spending. You can set custom budget thresholds
specifically for API Gateway and receive notifications when your costs are
approaching those limits.
More sophisticated reporting by business unit or customer
Custom alerts for cost anomalies
Broader integration with business systems
Implementing these monitoring tools effectively can significantly help in cost
management.
Balance Cost and Performance
Zuplo helps you build sustainable, scalable APIs that don't break the bank. The
most effective cost-control strategies include:
Selecting the appropriate API type for your specific requirements
Implementing strategic caching to reduce backend calls
Controlling traffic with request throttling and usage plans
Minimizing data transfer through compression and streamlined payloads
Continuous monitoring and fine-tuning as usage evolves
Ready to take your API management to the next level?
Try Zuplo for free and
discover how our modern, developer-friendly platform can help you build better
APIs for less.
